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p. 



MR. WEBSTER'S ADDRESS 



ON 



HuttlKr l^ill 



FXFTB EDXTXON. 



AN 



ADDRESS 

DELIVERED AT THE LAYING OF THE > 7 



BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. 



BT DANIEL WEBSTER, 



FIFTH EDITION. 



BOSTON: 
PUBUSHED BY CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, AND COMPANY. 

1825. 






DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT : 

District Clerk's Office. 

Be it lemenibeieJ, that on the twenty-first day of June, A. D. 1825, in the 
forty-ninth year of the Indepeiidenie of tiie United States of America. Cum- 
niings, Milliard, <^ Co. of said district, have deposited in this office the title of 
a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to 
wit: — 

"An Address delivered at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Bunker 
Hill Monument. By Daniel Webster." 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An 
Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, 
and hooks, to the authors and proprietor? of such copies, during the times 
therein mentioned:" and also to an Act, entitled, •' An Act supplementary to 
an Act, entitled, ' An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the 
copies of maps, charts, anrl books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies 
during the times therein mentioned ;' and extending the benefits thereof to the 
arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 

JNO. W. DAVIS, 
Cierk qftlie District of Massachitsetts. 



University Press. — Hilliard & Metcalf. 



ADDRESS. 



This uncounted multitude before me, and 
around me, proves the feeling which the occasion 
has excited. These thousands of human faces, 
glowing with sympathy and joy, and, from the 
impulses of a common gratitude, turned reverently 
to heaven, in this spacious temple of the firma- 
ment, proclaim that the day, the place, and the 
purpose of our assembling have made a deep 
impression on our hearts. 

If, indeed, there be any thing in local associa- 
tion fit to affect the mind of man, we need not 
strive to repress the emotions which agitate us 
here. We are among the sepulchres of our fa- 
thers. We are on ground, distinguished by their 
valor, their constancy, and the shedding of their 
blood. We are here, not to fix an uncertain date 
in our annals, nor to draw into notice an obscure 
and unknown spot. If our humble purpose had 



never been conceived, if we ourselves had never 
been born, the 17th of June 1775 would have 
been a day on which all subsequent history would 
have poured its light, and the eminence where 
we stand, a point of attraction to the eyes of 
successive generations. But we are Americans. 
We live in what may be called the early age of 
this great continent ; and we know that our pos- 
terity, through all time, are here to suffer and 
enjoy the allotments of humanity. We see be- 
fore us a probable train of great events ; wo 
know that our own fortunes have been happily 
cast ; and it is natural, therefore, that we should 
be moved by the contemplation of occurrences 
which have guided our destiny before many of 
us were born, and settled the condition in which 
we should pass that portion of our existence, 
which God allows to men on earth. 

We do not read even of the discovery of this 
continent, without feeling something of a personal 
interest in the event ; without being reminded how 
much it has affected our own fortunes, and our 
own existence. It is more impossible for us, 
therefore, than for others, to contemplate with 
unaffected minds that interesting, I may say, 
that most touching and pathetic scene, when the 



great Discoverer of America stood on the deck of 
his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on 
the sea, yet no man sleeping; tossed on the bil- 
lows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger 
billows of alternate hope and despair tossing 
his own troubled thoughts ; extending forward 
his harassed frame, straining westward his anx- 
ious and eager eyes, till Heaven at last granted 
him a moment of rapture and ecstacy, in blessing 
his vision with the sight of the unknown world. 
Nearer to our times, more closely connected 
with our fates, and therefore still more interesting 
to our feelings and affections, is the settlement of 
our own country by colonists from England. We 
cherish every memorial of these worthy ancestors ; 
we celebrate their patience and fortitude ; we 
admire their daring enterprise ; we teach our 
children to venerate their piety ; and we are 
justly proud of being descended from men, who 
have set the world an example of founding civil 
institutions on the great and united principles of 
human freedom and human knowledge. To us, 
their children, the story of their labors and suf- 
ferings can never be without its interest. We 
shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, 
while the sea continues to wash it : nor will our 



6 

brethren in another early and ancient colony, for- 
get the place of its first establishment, till their 
river shall cease to flow by it. No vigor of 
youth, no maturity of manhood, will lead the 
nation to forget the spots where its infancy was 
cradled and defended. 

But the great event, in the history of the con- 
tinent, which we are now met here to commemo- 
rate ; that prodigy of modern times, at once the 
wonder and the blessing of the world, is the 
American Revolution. In a day of extraordinary 
prosperity and happiness, of high national honor, 
distinction, and power, we are brought together, 
in this place, by our love of country, by our ad- 
miration of exalted character, by our gratitude for 
signal services and patriotic devotion. 

The society, whose organ I am, was formed 
for the purpose of rearing some honorable and 
durable monument to the memory of the early 
friends of American Independence. They have 
thought, that for this object no time could be 
more propitious, than the present prosperous and 
peaceful period ; that no place could claim pref- 
erence over this memorable spot ; and that no day 
could be more auspicious to the undertaking, than 



the anniversary of the battle which was here 
fought. The foundation of that monument we 
have now laid. With solemnities suited to the 
occasion, with prayers to Almighty God for his 
blessing, and in the midst of this cloud of wit- 
nesses, we have begun the work. We trust it 
will be prosecuted ; and that springing from a 
broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity 
and unadorned grandeur, it may remain, as long 
as Heaven permits the works of man to last, a fit 
emblem, both of the events in memory of which it 
is raised, and of the gratitude of those who have 
reared it. 

We know, indeed, that the record of illustri- 
ous actions is most safely deposited in the uni- 
versal remembrance of mankind. We know, that 
if we could cause this structure to ascend, not 
only till it reached the skies, but till it pierced 
them, its broad surfaces could still contain but 
part of that, which, in an age of knowledge, hath 
already been spread over the earth, and which 
history charges itself with making known to all 
future times. We know, that no inscription on en- 
tablatures less broad than the earth itself, can carry 
information of the events we commemorate, where 
it has not already gone ; and that no structure, 



which shall not outlive the duration of letters and 
knowledge among men, can prolong the memori- 
al. But our object is, by this edifice to show our 
own deep sense of the value and importance of 
the achievements of our ancestors ; and, by pre- 
senting this work of gratitude to the eye, to keep 
alive similar sentiments, and to foster a constant 
regard for the principles of the Revolution. Hu- 
man beings are composed not of reason only, but 
of imagination also, and sentiment ; and that is 
neither wasted nor misapplied which is appropriat- 
ed to the purpose of giving right direction to sen- 
timents, and opening proper springs of feeling in 
the heart. Let it not be supposed that our object 
is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cher- 
ish a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, 
nobler. We consecrate our work to the spirit of 
national independence, and we wish that the light 
of peace may rest upon it forever. We rear a me- 
morial of our conviction of that unmeasured bene- 
fit, which has been conferred on our own land, 
and of the happy influences, which have been 
produced, by the same events, on the general 
interests of mankind. We come, as Americans, 
to mark a spot, which must forever be dear to us 
and our posterity. We wish, that whosoever, in 



all coming time, shall turn his eye hither, may 
behold that the place is not undistinguished, where 
the first great battle of the Revolution was fought. 
We wish, that this structure may pi'oclaim the mag- 
nitude and importance of that event, to every class 
and every age. We wish, that infancy may learn 
the purpose of its erection from maternal lips, and 
that weary and withered age may behold it, and 
be solaced by the recollections which it suggests. 
We wish, that labor may look up here, and be 
proud, in the midst of its toil. We wish, that, in 
those days of disaster, which, as they come on all 
nations, must be expected to come on us also, 
desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hither- 
ward, and be assured that the foundations of our 
national power still stand stropg. We wish, that 
this column, rising towards heaven among the 
pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to 
God, may contribute also to produce, in all minds, 
a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. 
We wish, finally, that the last object on the sight 
of him who leaves his native shore, and the first 
to gladden his who revisits it, may be something 
which shall remind him of the liberty and the 
glory of his country. Let it rise, till it meet the 
sun in his coming ; let the earliest light of the 
2 



10 

morning gild it, and parting day linger and play 
on its summit. 

We live in a most extraordinary age. Events 
so various and so important, that they might 
crowd and distinguish centuries, are, in our times, 
compressed within the compass of a single life. 
When has it happened that history has had so 
much to record, in the same term of years, as since 
the 17th of June 1775? Our own Revolution, 
which, under other circumstances, might itself have 
been expected to occasion a war of half a century, 
has been achieved ; twenty-four sovereign and 
independent states erected ; and a general govern- 
ment established over them, so safe, so wise, so 
free, so practical, that we miglit well wonder its 
establishment should have been accomplished so 
soon, were it not far the greater wonder that it 
should have been established at all. Two or 
three millions of people have been augmented to 
twelve ; and the great forests of the West pros- 
trated beneath the arm of successful industry ; 
and the dwellers on the banks of the Ohio and 
the Mississippi, become the fellow citizens and 
neighbours of those who cultivate the hills of New 
England. We have a commerce, that leaves no 



11 

sea unexplored : navies, which take no law from 
superior force ; revenues, adequate to all the exi- 
gencies of government, almost without taxation ; 
and peace with all nations, founded on equal rights 
and mutual respect. 

Europe, within the same period, has been agi- 
tated by a mijrhtj revolution, which, while it has 
been felt in the individual condition and happi- 
ness of almost every man, has shaken to the cen- 
tre her political fabric, and dashed against one 
another thrones, which had stood tranquil for ages. 
On this, our continent, our own example has 
been followed ; and colonies have sprung up to be 
nations. Unaccustomed sounds of liberty and 
free government have reached us from beyond the 
track of the sun : and at this moment the do- 
minion of European power, in this continent, from 
the place where we stand to the south pole, is 
annihilated forever. 

In the mean time, both in Europe and Ameri- 
ca, such has been the general progress of knowl- 
edge ; such the improvements in legislation, in 
commerce, in the arts, in letters, and above all in 
liberal ideas, and the general spirit of the age, 
that the whole world seems changed. 



12 

Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint 
abstract of the things which have happened since 
the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are but 
fifty years removed from it ; and we now stand 
here, to enjoy all the blessings of our own condi- 
tion, and to look abroad on the brightened pros- 
pects of the world, while we hold still among us 
some of those, who were active agents in the 
scenes of 1775, and who are now here, from every 
quarter of New England, to visit, once more, and 
under circumstances so affecting, I had almost 
said so overwhelming, this renowned theatre of 
their courage and patriotism. 

Venerable men ! you have come down to us, 
from a former generation. Heaven has bounte- 
ously lengthened out your lives, that you might 
behold this joyous day. You are now, where you 
stood, fifty years ago, this very hour, with your 
brothers, and your neighbours, shoulder to shoulder, 
in the strife for your country. Behold, how 
altered ! The same heavens are indeed over 
your heads ; the same ocean rolls at your feet ; 
but all else, how changed ! You hear now no roar 
of hostile cannon, you see no mixed volumes of 
smoke and flame rising from burning Charles- 



13 

town. The ground strewed with the dead and 
the djing ; the impetuous charge ; the steady and 
successful repulse ; tlie loud call to repeated as- 
sault ; the summoning of all that is manly to re- 
peated resistance ; a thousand bosoms freely and 
fearlessly bared in an instant to whatever of terror 
there may be in war and death ; — all these you 
have witnessed, but you witness them no more. 
AH is peace. The heights of yonder metropolis, 
its towers and roofs, which you then saw filled 
with wives and children and countrymen in dis- 
tress and terror, and looking with unutterable 
emotions for the issue of the combat, have pre- 
sented you to-day with the sight of its whole hap- 
py population, come out to welcome and greet you 
with an universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, 
by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the 
foot of this mount, and seeming fondly to cling 
around it, are not means of annoyance to you, 
but your country's own means of distinction and 
defence. All is peace ; and God has granted you 
this sight of your country's happiness, ere you 
slumber in the grave forever. He has allowed 
you to behold and to partake the reward of your 
patriotic toils ; and he has allowed us, your sons 
and countrymen, to meet you here, and in the 



14 

name of the present generation, in the name of 
your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 
But, alas ! you are not all here ! Time and 
the sword have thinned your ranks. Prescott, 
Putnam, Stark, Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! 
our eyes seek for you in vain amidst this broken 
band. You are gathered to your fathers, and live 
only to your country in her grateful remembrance, 
and your own bright example. But let us not 
too much grieve, that you have met the common 
fate of men. You lived, at least, long enough to 
know that your work had been nobly and suc- 
cessfully accomplished. You lived to see your 
country's independence established, and to sheathe 
your swords from war. On the light of Liberty 
you saw arise the light of Peace, like 

' another morn, 
Risen on mid-noon ; ' — 

and the sky, on which you closed your eyes, was 
cloudless. 

But — ah ! — Him ! the first great Martyr in this 
great cause ! Him ! the premature victim of his 
own self-devoting heart ! Him ! the head of our 
civil councils, and the destined leader of our mili- 
tary bands ; Avhom nothing brought hither, but 
the unquenchable fire of his own spirit ; Him ! 



15 

cut off by Providence, in the hour of overwhelm- 
ing anxiety and thick gloom ; falling, ere he saw 
the star of his country rise ; pouring out his gen- 
erous blood, like water, before he knew whether 
it would fertilize a land of freedom or of bondage ! 
how shall I struggle with the emotions, that stifle 
the utterance of thy name ! — Our poor work may 
perish ; but thine shall endure ! This monument 
may moulder away ; the solid ground it rests 
upon may sink down to a level with the sea ; but 
thy memory shall not fail ! Wheresoever among 
men a heart shall be found, that beats to the trans- 
ports of patriotism and liberty, its aspirations, 
shall be to claim kindred w ith thy spirit ! 

But the scene amidst which we stand does not 
permit us to confine our thoughts or our sympa- 
thies to those fearless spirits, who hazarded or 
lost their lives on this consecrated spot. We have 
the happiness to rejoice here in the presence of a 
most worthy representation of the survivors of the 
whole Revolutionary Army. 

Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a 
well fought field. You bring with you marks of 
honor from Trenton and Monmouth, from York- 



16 

town, Camden, Bennington, and Saratoga. Vet- 
erans OF HALF A CENTURY ! when in jour youth- 
ful days, you put every thing at hazard in your 
country's cause, good as that cause was, and san- 
guine as youth is, still your fondest hopes did not 
stretch onward to an hour like this ! At a 
period to which you could not reasonably have 
expected to arrive ; at a moment of national 
prosperity, such as you could never have foreseen, 
you are now met, here, to enjoy the fellowship of 
old soldiers, and to receive the overflowings of an 
universal gratitude. 

But your agitated countenances and your heav- 
ing breasts inform me that even this is not an un- 
mixed joy. I perceive that a tumult of contend- 
ing feelings rushes upon you. The images of the 
dead, as well as the persons of the living, throng 
to your embraces. The scene overwhelms you, 
and I turn from it. May the Father of all mer- 
cies smile upon your declining years, and bless 
them ! And when you shall here have exchanged 
your embraces ; when you shall once more have 
pressed the hands which have been so often extend- 
ed to give succour in adversity, or grasped in the 
exultation of victory ; then look abroad into this 
lovely land, which your young valor defended, and 



17 

mark the happiness with which it is filled ; yea, 
look abroad into the whole earth, and see what a 
name you have contributed to give to your coun- 
try, and what a praise you have added to free- 
dom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and grati- 
tude, which beam upon your last days from the 
improved condition of mankind. 

The occasion does not require of me any partic- 
ular account of the battle of the 17th of June, nor 
any detailed narrative of the events which imme- 
diately preceded it. These are familiarly known 
to all. In the progress of the great and interest- 
ing controversy, Massachusetts and the town of 
Boston had become early and marked objects of the 
displeasure of the British Parliament. This had 
been manifested, in the Act for altering the Gov- 
ernment of the Province, and in that for shutting 
up the Port of Boston. Nothing sheds more honor 
on our early history, and nothing better shows how 
little the feelings and sentiments of the colonies 
were known or regarded in England, than the 
impression which these measures every where 
produced in America. It had been anticipated, 
that while the other colonies would be terrified 
by the severity of the punishment inflicted on 
3 



18 

Massachusetts, the other seaports would be gov- 
erned by a mere spirit of gain ; and that, as Bos- 
ton was now cut off from all commerce, the un- 
expected advantage, which this blow on her was 
calculated to confer on other towns, would be 
greedily enjoyed. How miserably such reason- 
ers deceived themselves ! How little they knew 
of the depth, and the strength, and the intense- 
ness of that feeling of resistance to illegal acts 
of power, which possessed the whole American 
people ! Every where the unworthy boon was re- 
jected with scorn. The fortunate occasion was 
seized, every where, to show to the whole world, 
that the colonies were swayed by no local inter- 
est, no partial interest, no selfish interest. The 
temptation to profit by the punishment of Boston 
was strongest to our neighbours of Salem. Yet 
Salem was precisely the place, where this misera- 
ble proffer was spurned, in a tone of the most 
lofty self-respect, and the most indignant patriot- 
ism. ' We are deeply affected,' said its inhabi- 
tants, ' with the sense of our public calamities ; 
but the miseries that are now rapidly hastening on 
our brethren in the capital of the Province, greatly 
excite our commiseration. By shutting up the 
port of Boston, some imagine that the course of 



19 

trade might be turned hither and to our benefit ; 
but we must be dead to every idea of justice, lost 
to all feelings of humanity, could we indulge a 
thought to seize on wealth, and raise our fortunes 
on the ruin of our suffering neighbours.' These 
noble sentiments were not confined to our imme- 
diate vicinhy. In that day of general affection 
and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote 
on every patriotic heart, from one end of the coun- 
try to the other. Virginia and the Carolinas, as 
well as Connecticut and New Hampshire, felt and 
proclaimed the cause to be their own. The Con- 
tinental Congress, then holding its first session in 
Philadelphia, expressed its sympathy for the suf- 
fering inhabitants of Boston, and addresses were 
received from all quarters, assuring them that the 
cause was a common one, and should be met by 
common efforts and common sacrifices. The 
Congress of Massachusetts responded to these 
assurances; dnd in an address to the Congress 
at Philadelphia, bearing the official signature, per- 
haps among the last, of the immortal Warren, 
notwithstanding the severity of its suffering and 
the magnitude of the dangers which threatened it, 
it was declared, that this colony ' is ready, at all 
times, to spend and to be spent in the cause of 
America.' 



'20 

But the hour drew nigh, which was to put pro- 
fessions to the proof, and to determine whether 
the authors of these mutual pledges were ready to 
seal them in blood. The tidings of Lexington 
and Concord had no sooner spread, thart it was 
universally felt, that the time was at last come 
for action. A spirit pervaded all ranks, not 
transient, not boisterous, but deep, solemn, deter- 
mined, 

' totamqiie infusa per artus 
Mens agitat molem, et niagno se corpore miscet.' 

War, on their own soil and at their own doors, 
was, indeed, a strange work to the yeomanry of 
New England ; but their consciences were con- 
vinced of its necessity, their country called them 
to it, and they did not withhold themselves from 
the perilous trial. The ordinary occupations of 
life were abandoned ; the plough was staid in the 
unfinished furrow ; wives gave up their husbands, 
and mothers gave up their sons, to the battles of a 
civil war. Death might come, in honor, on the 
field ; it might come, in disgrace, on the scaffold. 
For either and for both they were prepared. The 
sentiment of Quincy was full in their hearts. 
'Blandishments,' said that distinguished son of 
genius and patriotism, ' will not fascinate us, nor 



21 

will threats of a halter mtimidate ; for, under God, 
we are determined, that wheresoever, whensoever, 
or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, 
we will die free men.' 

The 17th of June saw the four New England 
colonies standing here, side by side, to triumph or 
to fall together ; and there was with them from 
that moment to the end of the war, what I hope 
will remain with them forever, one cause, one 
country, one heart. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with 
the most important effects beyond its immediate 
result as a military engagement. It created at 
once a state of open, public war. There could 
now be no longer a question of proceeding against 
individuals, as guilty of treason or rebellion. 
That fearful crisis was past. The appeal now lay 
to the sword, and the only question was, whether 
the spirit and the resources of the people would 
hold out, till the object should be accomplished. 
Nor were its general consequences confined to our 
own country. The previous proceedings of the 
colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and addresses, 
had made their cause known to Europe. Without 
boasting, we may say, that in no age or country, 
has the public cause been maintained with more 



force of argument, more power of illustration, or 
more of that persuasion which excited feeling and 
elevated principle can alone bestow, than the 
revolutionary state papers exhibit. These papers 
will forever deserve to be studied, not only for 
the spirit which they breathe, but for the ability 
with which they were written. 

To this able vindication of their cause, the 
colonies had now added a practical and severe proof 
of their own true devotion to it, and evidence also 
of the power which they could bring to its support. 
All now saw, that if America fell, she would 
not fall without a struggle. Men felt sympathy 
and regard, as well as surprise, when they beheld 
these infant states, remote, unknown, unaided, 
encounter the power of England, and in the first 
considerable battle, leave more of their enemies 
dead on the field, in proportion to the number of 
combatants, than they had recently known in the 
wars of Europe. 

Information of these events, circulating through 
Europe, at length reached the ears of one who 
now hears me. He has not forgotten the emotion, 
which the fame of Bunker Hill, and the name of 
Warren, excited in his youthful breast. 



23 

Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the 
establishment of great public principles of liberty, 
and to do honor to the distinguished dead. The 
occasion is too severe for eulogy to the living. 
But, sir, your interesting relation to this country, 
the peculiar circumstances vs^hich surround you 
and surround us, call on me to express the happi- 
ness which we derive from your presence and aid 
in this solemn commemoration. 

Fortunate, fortunate man ! with what measure 
of devotion will you not thank God, for the cir- 
cumstances of your extraordinary life ! You are 
connected with both hemispheres and with two 
generations. Heaven saw fit to ordain, that the 
electric spark of Liberty should be conducted, 
through you, from the new world to the old ; and 
we, who are now here to perform this duty of 
patriotism, have all of us long ago received it in 
charge from our fathers to cherish your name and 
your virtues. You will account it an instance of 
your good fortune, sir, that you crossed the seas to 
visit us at a time which enables you to be present 
at this solemnity. You now behold the field, the 
renown of which reached you in the heart of 
France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. 
You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up 



24 

by the incredible diligence of Piescott ; defended, 
to the last extremity, by his lion-hearted valor ; 
and within which the corner stone of our monu- 
ment has now taken its position. You see where 
Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McClea- 
ry, ]Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. 
Those who survived that day, and whose lives 
have been prolonged to the present hour, are now 
around you. Some of them you have known in 
the trying scenes of the war. Behold ! they now 
stretch forth their feeble arms to embrace you. 
Behold ! they raise their trembling voices to in- 
voke the blessing of God on you, and yours, forever. 
Sir, you have assisted us in laying the founda- 
tion of this edifice. You have heard us rehearse, 
with our feeble commendation, the names of de- 
parted patriots. Sir, monuments and eulogy 
belong to the dead. We give them, this day, to 
Warren and his associates. On other occasions 
they have been given to your more immediate 
companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, 
to Gates, Sullivan, and Lincoln. Sir, we have 
become reluctant to grant these, our highest and 
last honors, further. We would gladly hold 
them yet back from the little remnant of that 
immortal band. Serus in ccelum redeas, Illus- 



25 

trious as are your merits, yet far, oh, very far 

distant be the day, when any inscription shall 

bear your name, or any tongue pronounce its 
eulogy ! 

The leading reflection, to which this occasion 
seems to invite us, respects the great changes 
which have happened in the fifty years, since the 
battle of Bunker Hill was fought. And it pecu- 
liarly marks the character of the present age, that, 
in looking at these changes, and in estimating their 
effect on our condition, we are obliged to consider, 
not what has been done in our own country only, 
but in others also. In these interesting times, 
while nations are making separate and individual 
advances in improvement, they make, too, a com- 
mon progress ; like vessels on a common tide, 
propelled by the gales at different rates, ac- 
cording to their several structure and manage- 
ment, but all moved forward by one mighty 
current beneath, strong enough to bear onward 
whatever does not sink beneath it. 

A chief distinction of the present day is a com- 
munity of opinions and knowledge amongst men, 
in different nations, existing in a degree hereto- 
fore unknown. Knowledge has, in our time, tri 
4 



26 

umphed, and is triumphing, over distance, over 
difference of languages, over diversity of habits, 
over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized 
and Christian world is fast learning the great les- 
son, that difference of nation does not imply ne- 
cessary hostility, and that all contact need not be 
war. The whole world is becoming a common 
field for intellect to act in. Energy of mind, ge- 
nius, power, wheresoever it exists, may speak out 
in any tongue, and the ivorld will hear it. A 
great chord of sentiment and feeling runs through 
two continents, and vibrates over both. Every 
breeze wafts intelligence from country to country ; 
every wave rolls it ; all give it forth, and all in 
turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of 
ideas ; there ar^ marts and exchanges for intellec- 
tual discoveries, and a wonderful fellowship of 
those individual intelligences which make up the 
mind and opinion of the age. Mind is the great 
lever of all things ; human thought is the pro- 
cess by which human ends are ultimately an- 
swered ; and the diffusion of knowledge, so aston- 
ishing in the last half century, has rendered innu- 
merable minds, variously gifted by nature, com- 
petent to be competitors, or fellow-workers, on the 
theatre of intellectual operation. 



27 

From these causes, important improvements 
have taken place in the personal condition of in- 
dividuals. Generally speaking, mankind are not 
only better fed, and better clothed, but they 
are able also to enjoy more leisure ; they possess 
more refinement and more self-respect. A supe- 
rior tone of education, manners, and habits pre- 
vails. This remark, most true in its application 
to our own country, is also partly true, when 
applied elsewhere. It is proved by the vastly 
augmented consumption of those articles of manu- 
facture and of commerce, which contribute to the 
comforts and the decencies of life ; an augmenta- 
tion which has far outrun the progress of popula- 
tion. And while the unexampled and almost in- 
credible use of machinery would seem to supply 
the place of labor, labor still finds its occupation 
and its reward ; so wisely has Providence adjusted 
men's wants and desires to their condition and 
their capacity. 

Any adequate survey, however, of the progress 
made in the last half century, in the polite and the 
mechanic arts, in machinery and manufactures, in 
commerce and agriculture, in letters and in science, 
would require volumes. I must abstain wholly from 
these subjects, and turn, for a moment, to the con-t 



28 

templation of what has been done on the great ques- 
tion of politics and government. This is the master 
topic of the age ; and during the whole fifty years, 
it has intensely occOpied the thoughts of men. 
The nature of civil government, its ends and uses, 
have been canvassed and investigated ; ancient 
opinions attacked and defended ; new ideas re- 
commended and resisted, by whatever power the 
mind of man could bring to the controversy. From 
the closet and the public halls the debate has been 
transferred to the field ; and the world has been 
shaken by wars of unexampled magnitude, and 
the greatest variety of fortune. A day of peace 
has at length succeeded ; and now that the strife 
has subsided, and the smoke cleared away, we 
may begin to see what has actually been done, 
permanently changing the state and condition of 
human society. And without dwelling on parti- 
cular circumstances, it is most apparent, that, from 
the beforementioned causes of augmented know- 
ledge and improved individual condition, a real, 
substantial, and important change has taken place, 
and is taking place, greatly beneficial, on the 
whole, to human liberty and human happiness. 

The great wheel of political revolution began 
to move in America. Here its rotation was guard- 



29 

ed, regular, and safe. Transferred to the other 
continent, from unfortunate but natural causes, 
it received an irregular and violent impulse ; it 
whirled along with a fearful celerity ; till at length, 
like the chariot wheels in the races of antiquity, 
it took fire from the rapidity of its own motion, 
and blazed onward, spreading conflagration and 
terror around. 

We learn from the result of this experiment, 
how fortunate was our own condition, and how 
admirably the character of our people was cal- 
culated for making the great example of po- 
pular governments. The possession of power 
did not turn the heads of the American people, 
for they had long been in the habit of exercising 
a great portion of self-control. Although the pa- 
ramount authority of the parent state existed over 
them, yet a large field of legislation had always 
been open to our colonial assemblies. They were 
accustomed to representative bodies and the forms 
of free government ; they understood the doctrine of 
the " division of poiver among difierent branches, 
and the necessity of checks on each. The cha- 
racter of our countrymen, moreover, was sober, 
moral, and religious ; and there was little in the 
change to shock their feelings of justice and hu- 



30 

manity, or even to disturb an honest prejudice. 
We had no domestic throne to overturn, no privi- 
leged orders to cast down, no violent changes of 
property to encounter. In the American Revolu- 
tion, no man sought .or wished for more than to 
defend and enjoy his own. None hoped for plun- 
der or for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it ; 
the axe was not among the instruments of its ac- 
complishment ; and we all know that it could not 
have lived a single day under any well founded 
imputation of possessing a tendency adverse to the 
Christian religion. 

It need not surprise us, that, under circum- 
stances less auspicious, political revolutions else- 
where, even when well intended, have terminated 
differently. It is, indeed, a great achievement, 
it is the master work of the world, to establish 
governments entirely popular, on lasting founda- 
tions ; nor is it easy, indeed, to introduce the 
popular principle at all, into governments to which 
it has been altogether a stranger. It cannot be 
doubted, however, that Europe has come out of 
the contest, in which she has been so long en- 
gaged, with greatly superior knowledge, and, 
in many respects, a highly improved condition. 
Whatever benefit has been acquired, is likely to 



31 

be retained, for it consists mainly in the acquisi- 
tion of more enlightened ideas. And although 
kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the 
hands that hold them, in the same manner they 
were obtained ; although ordinary and vulgar 
power may, in human affairs, be lost as it has 
been won ; yet it is the glorious prerogative of the 
empire of knowledge, that what it gains it never 
loses. On the contrary, it increases by the mul- 
tiple of its own power ; all its ends become means ; 
all its attainments, helps to new conquests. Its 
whole abundant harvest is but so much seed wheat, 
and nothing has ascertained, and nothing can as- 
certain, the amount of ultimate product. 

Under the influence of this rapidly increasing 
knowledge, the people have begun, in all forms of 
government, to think, and to reason, on affairs of 
state. Regarding government as an institution 
for the public good, they demand a knowledge of 
its operations, and a participation in its exercise. 
A call for the Representative system, wherever it 
is not enjoyed, and where there is already intelli- 
gence enough to estimate its value, is persevering- 
ly made. Where men may speak out, they de- 
mand it ; where the bayonet is at their throats, 
they pray for it. 



32 

When Louis XIV. said, " I am the state,'' 
he expressed the essence of the doctrine of unlim- 
ited power. By the rules of that system, the 
people are disconnected from the state ; they are 
its subjects; it is their lord. These ideas, found- 
ed in the love of power, and long supported by 
the excess and the abuse of it, are yielding, in 
our age, to other opinions ; and the civilized 
world seems at last to be proceeding to the con- 
viction of that fundamental and manifest truth, 
that the powers of government are but a trust, 
and that they cannot be lawfully exercised but for 
the good of the community. As knowledge is 
more and more extended, this conviction becomes 
more and more general. Knowledge, in truth, is 
the great sun in the firmament. Life and power 
are scattered with all its beams. The praj^er of 
the Grecian combatant, when enveloped in un- 
natural clouds and darkness, is the appropriate 
political supplication for the people of every coun- 
try not yet blessed with free institutions : 

' Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore^ 
Give me to see — and Ajax asks no more.' 

We may hope, that the growing influence of en- 
lightened sentiments will promote the permanent 
peace of the world. Wars, to maintain family 



33 

alliances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, to 
regulate successions to thrones, which have occu- 
pied so much room in the history of modern times, 
if not less likely to happen at all, will be less 
likely to become general and involve many na- 
tions, as the great principle shall be more and 
more established, that the interest of the world is 
peace, and its first great statute, that every nation 
possesses the power of establishing a government 
for itself. But public opinion has attained also 
an influence over governments, which do not 
admit the popular principle into their organization. 
A necessary respect for the judgment of the world 
operates, in some measure, as a control over the 
most unlimited forms of authority. It is owing, 
perhaps, to this truth, that the interesting struggle 
of the Greeks has been suffered to go on so long, 
without a direct interference, either to wrest that 
country from its present masters, and add it to 
other powers, or to execute the system of pacifi- 
cation by force, and, with united strength, lay the 
neck of christian and civilized Greece at the foot 
of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God that 
we live in an age, when something has influence 
besides the bayonet, and when the sternest author- 
ity does not venture to encounter the scorching 
5 



34 

power ol" public reproach. Any attempt of the 
kind I have mentioned, should be met by one 
universal burst of indignation ; the air of the civil- 
ized world ought to be made too warm to be 
comfortably breathed by any who would hazard 
it. 

It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that while, 
in the fulness of our country's happiness, we rear 
this monument to her honor, we look for instruc- 
tion, in our undertaking, to a country which is 
now in fearful contest, not for works of art or 
memorials of glory, but for her own existence. 
Let her be assured, that she is not forgotten in 
the world ; that her efforts are applauded, and 
that constant prayers ascend for her success. 
And let us cherish a confident hope for her final 
triumph. If the true spark of religious and civil 
liberty be kindled, it will burn. Human agency 
cannot extinguish it. Like the earth's central 
fire it may be smothered for a time ; the ocean 
may overwhelm it ; mountains may press it down ; 
but its inherent and unconquerable force will 
heave both the ocean and the land, and at some 
time or another, in some place or another, the vol- 
cano will break out and flame up to heaven. 



35 

Among the great events of the half century, 
we must reckon, certamly, the Revolution of 
South America ; and we are not likely to over- 
rate the importance of that Revolution, either to 
the people of the country itself or to the rest of 
the world. The late Spanish colonies, now inde- 
pendent states, under circumstances less favorable, 
doubtless, than attended our own Revolution, 
have yet successfully commenced their national 
existence. They have accomplished the great 
object of establishing their independence ; they 
are known and acknowledged in the world ; and 
although in regard to their systems of government, 
their sentiments on religious toleration, and their 
provisions for public instruction, they may have 
yet much to learn, it must be admitted that they 
have risen to the condition of settled and estab- 
lished states, more rapidly than could have been 
reasonably anticipated. They already furnish an 
exhilirating example of the difference between 
free governments and despotic misrule. Their 
commerce, at this moment, creates a new activity 
in all the great marts of the world. They show 
themselves able, by an exchange of commodities, 
to bear an useful part in the intercourse of nations. 



36 

A new spirit of enterprise and industry begins to 
prevail ; all the great interests of society receive 
a salutary impulse ; and the progress of informa- 
tion not only testifies to an improved condition, 
but constitutes, itself, the highest and most essen- 
tial improvement. 

When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, 
the existence of South America was scarcely felt 
in the civilized world. The thirteen little colo- 
nies of North America habitually called them- 
selves the ' Continent.' Borne down by colonial 
subjugation, monopoly, and bigotry, these vast 
regions of the South were hardly visible above 
the horizon. But in our day there hath been, as it 
were, a new creation. The Southern Hemisphere 
emerges from the sea. Its lofty mountains begin 
to lift themselves into the light of heaven ; its 
broad and fertile plains stretch out, in beauty, to 
the eye of civilized man, and at the mighty 
bidding of the voice of political liberty the waters 
of darkness retire. 

And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation 
in the conviction of the benefit, ^^ hich the exam- 
ple of our country has produced, and is likely 



37 

to produce, on human freedom and human hap- 
piness. And let us endeavour to comprehend, 
in all its magnitude, and to feel, in all its im- 
portance, the part assigned to us in the great 
drama of human affairs. We are placed at the 
head of the system of representative and pop- 
ular governments. Thus far our example shows, 
that such governments are compatible, not only 
with respectability and power, but with repose, 
with peace, with security of personal rights, with 
good laws, and a just administration. 

We are not propagandists. Wherever other 
systems are preferred, either as being thought bet- 
ter in themselves, or as better suited to existing 
condition, we leave the preference to be enjoyed. 
Our history hitherto proves, however, that the 
popular form is practicable, and that with wisdom 
and knowledge men may govern themselves ; and 
the duty incumbent on us is, to preserve the con- 
sistency of this cheering example, and take care 
that nothing may weaken its authority with the 
world. If, in our case, the Representative sys- 
tem ultimately fail, popular governments must be 
pronounced impossible. No combination of cir- 
cumstances more favorable to the experiment can 



38 

ever be expected to occur. The last hopes of 
mankind, therefore, rest with us ; and if it should 
be proclaimed, that our example had become an 
argument against the experiment, the knell of pop- 
ular liberty would be sounded throughout the 
earth. 

These are excitements to duty ; but they are 
not suggestions of doubt. Our history and our 
condition, all that is gone before us, and all that 
surrounds us, authorize the belief, that popular 
governments, though subject to occasional varia- 
tions, perhaps not always for the better, in form, 
may yet, in their general character, be as durable 
and permanent as other systems. We know, in- 
deed, that, in our country, any other is impossible. 
The Principle of Free Governments adheres to 
the American soil. It is bedded in it ; immovable 
as its mountains. 

And let the sacred obligations which have de- 
volved on this generation, and on us, sink deep 
into our hearts. Those are daily dropping from 
among us, who established our liberty and our 
government. The great trust now descends to 
new hands. Let us apply ourselves to that which 
is presented to us, as our appropriate object. We 



39 

can win no laurels in a war for Independence. 
Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them 
all. Nor are there places for us by the side of 
Solon, and Alfred, and other founders of states. 
Our fathers have filled them. But there remains 
to us a great duty of defence and preservation; 
and there is opened to us, also, a noble pursuit, to 
which the spirit of the times strongly invites us. 
Our proper business is improvement. Let our 
age be the age of improvement. In a day ol 
peace, let us advance the arts of peace and tht; 
works of peace. Let us develop the resources of 
our land, call forth its powers, build up its insti- 
tutions, promote all its great interests, and sec 
whether we also, in our day and generation, may 
not perform something worthy to be remembered. 
Let us cultivate a true spirit of union and harmo- 
ny. In pursuing the great objects, which our 
condition points out to us, let us act under a set- 
tled conviction, and an habitual feeling, that these 
twenty-four states are one country. Let our con- 
ceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. 
Let us extend our ideas over the whole of the vast 
field in which we are called to act. Let our ob- 
ject be, OUR COUNTRY, OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, 



40 

AND NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY. And, by the 
blessing of God, may that country itself become a 
vast and splendid Monument, not of oppression 
and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of 
Liberty, upon which the world may gaze, with 
admiration, forever ! 



LBD'l4 



